Air recharge systems (ARS) are designed for use in aircraft applications. For example, the ARS may be used, in flight or on the ground, to recharge air bottles of a stored energy system to high pressures, such as 5000 psig and above. As such, a typical ARS uses a compressor with a number of stages to compress air to the desired pressures.
Generally, o-ring type seals are employed in piston or rod sealing applications, such as within compressors, to provide a seal between two adjacent cylindrical surfaces. These seals are subjected to various external forces and conditions throughout such use. At low pressure and low temperature conditions, seals may accommodate non-uniform pressure distribution due to the nature of their resilient, flexible and elastic compositions. Seals subjected to high pressure, for example, greater than about 3000 psig, and high temperatures, for example, greater than about 300° F., tend to deform, and gradually extrude into, for example, the sealed gap between the adjacent cylindrical surfaces. In addition, elevated temperatures eventually may reduce the physical qualities of resilient, flexible, and elastic materials. As such, these types of seals may need to be replaced at an undesirable frequency and/or leakages may occur, thereby reducing the efficiency and service life of the compressors.
Engineers have attempted to design more robust seals by redesigning the shape, increasing or decreasing the diameters and thicknesses, and the like, or by altering the compositions in order to improve the ability to withstand higher temperatures and pressures and to increase the service life of the seal. While these designs have met with some success, improvements to conventional sealing assemblies in applications such as high temperature and high pressure compressors are desired.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved sealing assemblies, particularly sealing assemblies for compressors. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.